Haven't I Been Here Before?
One of the more interesting mysteries of the entire Flashpoint event has been exactly what the Reverse Flash is really up to. Yes, he started to go back in time in an attempt to make Barry Allen miserable, but the larger impact that his time-meddling has had on the DCU remain unstudied. Why was Thomas Wayne saved? Is Professor Zoom responsible for the war in Europe? What happened to Superman? Even on a more personal level, how is that Barry Allen has no powers but Reverse Flash still does?
Sadly, this Professor Zoom one-shot does little to answer any of those questions. In fact, it spends most of its time re-establishing the central idea above: the Reverse Flash has been going through Barry Allen's past and deliberately trying to make his life more miserable, despite not being able to directly kill Barry Allen. And make no mistake, Scott Kolins' script goes to great lengths to show just how evil Zoom is when trying to torture Allen. But there is so little here that really embellishes what is going on overall in the Flash universe.
And some of the things that are going on directly contradict what has been previously established. For instance: the end of the book seems to be setting up a reveal of one of the more startling changes that Zoom made. But the final page suggests the exact opposite of what Flashpoint #1 already set as this timeline's status quo. Is that a fake out? Or poor editing? Despite what the cover has printed, this book is a solo one shot, so unless the scene is picked up elsewhere in the event, the moment seems to be a direct contradiction to what has been previously established.
Joel Gomez's art is pleasant to look at but nothing spectacular. One nice touch is an extended sequence that is done in Barry Allen's past is done in slightly more muted shapes and colors, giving it a more youthful and innocent aesthetic, despite the havoc that Zoom is inflicting. The contortions in Zoom's facial expression as especially well done, and go a long way in helping sell just how diabolical and mad he truly is.
But subtle touches like this aren't enough to overcome the book in alternating moments feeling like either a retread or completely disconnected from the rest of the event. Future issues of the main Flashpoint mini-series may help shed some light on why this is being published, but at first glance this whole issue feels misconceived for anyone except those who missed out on what Zoom's initial motivation was, and even then it can cause more confusion than clarity. A finely executed comic built on a faulty premise, this can't be recommended for anyone but Flashpoint completionists.
